Password protecting your files using a password is a great way to add additional security controls. The problem is, that there are tools out there that can crack them. You may also be in a situation where you can't remember the password of a file.

Below is a simple run-through of some tools you can use to recover/break those files.

You will need a wordlist to successfully crack password-protected files. How to create these wordlists can be found here: https://ctrlaltdel.blog/2019/05/25/generating-custom-wordlists-for-targeted-attacks/

Fcrackzip is a tool that you can use in order to crack password-protected ZIP files.

apt-get install fcrackzip

-b Brute force algorithm -D Dictionary attack -v Verbose -p Use a password file -u use unzip to weed out wrong passwords

fcrackzip -u -D -v -p [Wordlist] [Target Zip]

PDFcrack is another tool that you can use and focuses on PDF files.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcrack/files/

apt-get install pdfcrack

pdfcrack [PDF name] -w [Wordlist location]

If using Kali or Parrot these tools will come pre-installed.